Device for placing torpedoes



(No Model.)

J. D. SEAMANDS. DEVICE FOR PLAGING TORPE'DOES.

No. 538,129. Patented Apr. 23, 1895.

WITNESSES:

INVENTUI? A nah/v5 rs.

JAMES D. SEAM'ANDS, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.

DEVICE FOR PLACING TORPEDOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 538,129, dated April 23, 189 5. Application filed January 26, 1895. Serial No. 536,349. (li o model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES D. SEAMANDS, of San Antonio, in the county of Bexar and State of Texas, have invented a new and Improved Device for Placing Torpedoes, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description. My invention relates to a device especially adapted for placing torpedoes on railroad tracks and at the same time fixing the torpedo in position, the work being accomplished in a simple and expeditious manner while the train is in motion, whereby one train following another may be signaled without stopping the first train, thus preventing rear end collisions.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the torpedo placer applied to a railway rail, illustrating the placing of a torpedo thereon. Fig. 2 isa view similar to Fig. 1, illustratingthe torpedo released from the placer and clamped to the rail. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional View of the lower portion of the torpedo placer; and Fig. 4. is a section taken at a right angle to the section shown in Fig. 3.

The prime object of this invention is to provide a means for fixing a torpedo to one rail of the track without having to stop the train. Thus the train from which the torpedo has been placed, after proceeding a certain distance, may be stopped with safety, since the train following it will explode the torpedo and the engineer will be warned of danger ahead.

In carrying out the invention the torpedo placer comprises a handle A of any desired length, usuall'y fitted with a bail 10 at its upper end in order that it may be readily grasped, the lower end of the handle having attached to it in any approved manner a tube 11 in which a spring 12 is placed, the said spring being usually coiled, and ordinarily the tube is secured to the handle by means of a collar 13, as shown in Fig. 3. The lower end of the tube is substantially closed, being provided with an opening only sufficiently large to admit of the outward passage of a stem 14 attached to a head 15 located within the tube and against which the lower end of the spring 12 has bearing. This stem and its head may be termed a plunger, and at its lower end it is provided with a foot 16, which may be of any desired shape, but is usually circular and is preferably made of a yielding material such as rubber. From opposite sides of the said tube 11, at its lower end, arms 17 are outwardly and downwardly projected, said arms being somewhat bowed in direction of each other, and at the lower end of each arm a transverse groove 18 is produced, or an offset or its equivalent, and the groove or the offset may be made as shown in the drawings by bending the lower ends of the arms inward upon themselves to form an enlargement 19.

The torpedo 20 is constructed in the ordinary manner,being one thatis commonly used in railway service, but the torpedo is provided with a clamp 21 of spring material attached to its under face, the said clamp being somewhat bowed in order that it may receive and surround the ball, of the rail, its ends engaging with the bottom of said ball, as shown in Fig. 2. This spring yoke or clamp 21 may be and sometimes is passed through a loop 22 secured to the under face of the torpedo at its center, as shown in both Figs. 1 and 2.

In lowering the placer with the torpedo the upper face of the torpedo is brought to bear against the under face of the foot 16, and the plunger is forced upward, compressing the spring 12 until it is possible to bend the lower ends of the clamp or yoke 21 outward, or in opposite directions, that they maybe brought in engagement with the grooves 18, or offsets, whichever may be employed on the arms 17 of the placer, as shown in Fig. 1.

No matter how fast the train may be traveling, by the use of this device an operator from the rear end of the car or train. may force the bifurcated end of the placer in engagement with the track, and by pressing downward quickly the arms or bifurcated end of the placer, are carried downward around the rail and the clamping yoke is released, whereupon its members will quickly surround the ball of the rail, as shown in Fig. 2, leaving the torpedo fast upon the ball. The train from which the torpedo has been placed may then proceed forward and increase its distance if possible from the following train, while the coming engine will explode the torpedo, and the engineer will thus be Warned of danger ahead.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- Ina torpedo placer, thecombination of a handle comprising a solid upper portion and atubular lower portion, a screw threaded sleeve for securing the two parts of the handle together, the tubular lower portion of the handle being provided with a central opening in its lower end and having on opposite sides of said central opening outwardly-projecting flattened curved arms, the lower extremities of which are centrally notched at their lower edges and bent inward to form grooves adapted to receive the yoke of a torpedo, a spring arranged in the hollow lower portion of the handle, a plunger having a head located in the hollow lower portion of the handle, said plunger extending through the opening in the bottom of said hollow portion of the handle and being adapted to be heldin its outer position by the spring, and a foot secured to the lower end of said plunger, said foot being formed of elastic material and having a central recessin its under side to receive a washer forming means of attachment to said plunger, substantially as set forth.

JAMES D. SEAMANDS.

Witnesses:

A. V. KENNEDY, A. G. SEAMANDS. 

